Twitter turns 12 today – here’s what #twttr looked like way back when

Today, Twitter turns 12 years old, which is testament to how quickly time flies when you’re telling the world what you’re eating for breakfast.

Twitter’s rise to hashtagging dominance began on March 21, 2006, though no one knew then exactly how pervasive the site would become. We now live in an age where it’s hard to find anything at all that isn’t prefixed with a # or @.

Here’s the first tweet ever sent on that fateful day, posted by none other than Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey:

Twitter – once dubbed “the SMS of the internet” – now boasts hundreds of millions of users worldwide. And here’s a fun fact: 109 million of those users follow singer Katy Perry, who currently ranks as the most popular Twitter user ever, narrowly pipping Justin Bieber.

But like most web giants sired in the Noughties, Twitter didn’t start out as the slick, refined service we know today. To celebrate its journey, we’ve taken a look back at how the Twitter homepage has evolved since the website began.

First stop: 2005.

February 2005

Before Twitter was Twitter, it was this. We’re not sure either…

September 2006

Ah, that’s more like it! This is Twitter, mere months after the website’s launch.

December 2006

Look at that! People are @-tagging each other. Seems like 2006 wasn’t so different after all.

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